Tony2F,
Thanks for that, I was completely unaware we weren't offering that program any longer.
And to answer your second question, I guess you've just got to be real good like me
In all seriousness - I see where you're coming from, but I beg to differ re assessing someone in such a short time frame. When you fly your SID out of Liverpool or Newcastle or whereever, they will be looking for your ability to learn over anything else, seconded by your natural ability to fly accurately and exercise excellent CRM with your flying partner. I don't think there is much bias involved - I was a 250 hr Oxford grad when I got in last April, and I was paired with a 'stupid amount of hours' Captain who was out of work. Which can either be seen as a good or a bad thing - personally I found it much easier working with somebody who already knew what they were doing (the guy was 738NG type rated) and allowed me to really show what I was capable of.
I would recommend "Ace the technical pilot interview" - CAUTION, this book does contain much false practical information as I now realise, but I utilised some of the information with it during my interview and it got me through. I would also recommend the '737NG Cockpit Companion' for some 'light' reading. As it happened I was not asked any questions in my interview specific to the 737, but you never know, and you want to get it right the first time because if you don't, that's six months (I think?) before you can reapply and a further six months in an otherwise jobless market.
And make sure you know your basic Principles of Flight - a few of the questions I was asked -
- What is the load factor in a 70 degree bank? (3 Gs)
- What is the speed of sound at sea level? (Around 660 knots, varying according to temperature)
- How does weight affect the gliding range in still wind? (It doesn't, regardless of the wind)
- Taxiing above what speed can have adverse affects on the crown of the tyres? (Again variable, but around 40 km/h, 20 knots ish), which seemed an odd one considering the Ryanair cliche of taxiing at V1!
- And there was the usual, decending at X fpm with X tailwind, X TAS what distance over the ground would you cover descending from X to Y altitude? For reference, the numbers involved were quite simple/multiples of 60 if I remember right.
Overall, be yourself, and try to enjoy it, the guys I had were pretty laid back and informal, and the questions were integrated into conversation as opposed to being fired at me one after the other. There were none of those dreaded 'Name a time when you demonstrated this or that'. Not that I have a problem with those of course!
Hope this helps and best of luck,
Ad